Palm Beach Post (Florida) By SUSAN SALISBURY | October 28, 2003
Florida agriculture is an economic powerhouse for the state that cannot be sacrificed in the upcoming negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, U.S. Rep. Mark Foley said Monday.
Speaking at the Indian River Citrus League's annual meeting at the Grand Harbor Club in Vero Beach, Foley, R-West Palm Beach, said he and a dozen or so other GOP congressmen met Thursday with the U.S. trade representative's chief agricultural negotiator, Allen Johnson, to discuss Florida's citrus and sugar industries.
The 29-cents-a-gallon U.S. tariff on Brazilian orange juice is at stake in the FTAA talks, which are set for a ministerial meeting in Miami on Nov. 20.
The proposed pact would turn 34 Western Hemisphere nations into a giant free-trade zone.
Brazil also is the world's largest exporter of sugar. U.S. sugar industry officials have said they want sugar issues, such as quotas, to be decided in a forum such as the World Trade Organization because many countries outside of the Western Hemisphere produce sugar.
"We wanted to lay out for our administration the importance of maintaining the tariff on citrus," Foley said. "It's a do-or-die opportunity for the industry. It cannot be simply brushed away by suggesting somehow that this industry has served its time."
Foley said he also told President Bush during the weekend that the industry is not about just a few large growers, but about many small citrus growers who own 50 or 100 acres, or sugar growers who are part of a cooperative.
"They don't think about the gas station attendant in Belle Glade who wouldn't have a job if it weren't for sugar," Foley said. "We should not relent and give up the battle to protect this viable and important industry."
Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings told the citrus growers that, although Gov. Jeb Bush is a strong supporter of free trade, he believes in "free and fair trade" and understands the need to retain the tariff.
"The governor is doing everything he can to ensure that protection for agriculture is in our free-trade agreement," she said.Palm Beach Post (Florida) By SUSAN SALISBURY:
